A trip to the phone store can be a daunting experience. So many plans. So many options and tracks you can take, depending upon what you want to spend and the benefits of spending it.Some Bible teachers present Christianity that way. You can choose Plan A-- Regular Christian, or Plan B--Disciple of Christ. Some teach that you can be a Christian without
being a disciple. Is this what Jesus taught? Does the Bible present two options for those who would call themselves
Christians? .
Consider the ramifications. With Plan A, you simply believe, ask Jesus into your heart, and
then go about your regular life with only a few minor adjustments, like
some church attendance or cleaning up your language. Just enough to look
Christian. With this plan you get pardon from the Father, Jesus as your
friend, and the Holy Spirit as your Comforter. On top of that you can
look forward to eternal life in heaven. Ignoring Romans 6 won't be
difficult because you don't really need to read the Bible anyway. Bible
Verse snippets texted from Plan B Christians to your phone is all the
spiritual food you really need. You can continue like this
your entire life, and expect heaven as your reward for simply believing..
Plan B, discipleship, offers all the benefits of Plan A, however it
requires that you go through a sometimes painful new birth process that
will result in dying to your sin, enduring hardship, expecting
suffering, practicing self-denial, and loving Jesus more than anything
else. Your chief desire will be holiness, which means you follow Jesus even
when it hurts. In addition to heaven, you are promised some ambiguous
rewards that you hang on to for a few minutes before casting them at
Jesus' feet, and then everyone is even. Heaven is presented as an equal opportunity
destination..
Now, who in their right mind would choose Plan B? .Did Jesus present it
that way? In Acts 11:26, the two plans combine. It says, "The disciples were first called Christians." They were called "little Christs" as a form of ridicule. The word Christian originated as a taunt from unbelievers as a way to mock followers of Christ who were trying to live like
Jesus. But since then, we have so misconstrued the term that it has lost original meaning. In our world, Christian no longer means "little Christs." It often stands for religious bigoted hypocrites who hide their secret sins while loudly decrying the open ones of others. Or it implies Bible-tainted worldliness. Neither fits the original definition. Nor is either offered by God as an option for those who would inherit eternal life.
.We can
isolate a few verses that say all we need to do is "believe." But if we
take the whole counsel of God, all Jesus' words in their entirety, and
consider what it takes to gain eternal life, the message seems clear. It is the
same answer Jesus gave the rich young ruler: "Sell all you have and come
follow me." The pious young lawyer already believed, but he wasn't
willing to be a disciple. At no point did Jesus offer him Plan A.

If you grew up with siblings, somebody at some point heard a
variation of these words: "You're not really in our family. Mom and Dad
found you and they're gonna take you back pretty soon." Depending upon
the age of the victim, this news resulted in a tearful race to Mom or a fist fight.Unfortunately, the family of God hurls similar accusations at each other.
The availability of the Internet seems to provoke an insatiable desire to take these family fights embarrassingly public. It doesn't matter whose
name you Google. From world-renowned Bible scholar to up-and-coming
preacher, everyone is under attack by someone. The word "heretic" is
tossed as liberally as confetti on New Year's Eve, often by a young
seminary student with a short-sleeved dress shirt and a big Adam's
Apple, holding court in a musty church basement with a
camcorder. However, bigger names are now joining the mudslinging, as
though any one person holds the patent on every truth. Doesn't the Bible
call that pride? No matter how minuscule the doctrinal difference,
disagreements are seen as grounds for name-calling and the childish
taunt: "You're not in our family!"Heretics and false teachers do exist. In abundance. They should be
called out because they are preaching "another gospel." Any teachings that directly contradict scripture, such as universalism or questioning the divinity of Jesus, should be rejected because they are touted by those who are merely neighbors and not brothers. But much
of the inner-family conflict is just that--inner family. We are brothers
and sisters in Christ, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, headed to the
same eternal home. We are going to disagree. All families do. It's
healthy. It means everyone has a voice and everyone is thinking about
what matters.Big Brother Jesus knew this was coming. It is rather telling
that the theme of His longest recorder prayer in John 17 was unity. Of all
the requests He could have made of His Father in those hours before the
crucifixion, He asked "that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me..." (v. 23) Isn't it interesting that the way the world will believe in Jesus is when it sees our unity?

Is being "right "on some non-essential issue more important than loving
our brothers? Is proving our point before a scoffing world more important than demonstrating the humility and kindness that should characterize the family of God? Jesus didn't think so. If unity among His family is that
important to Jesus, why is it not more important to us?

There has been a subtle but distinct shift in recent years away from the
word sin to the more palatable words mistake and imperfection.
Ever notice that? .Mistakes are not so difficult to own. We all make them. Dozens a day. We
turn left when we should have turned right. We misspell our friend's
name, stay up too late, and overdue the caffeine. We shrug and roll
our eyes at our imperfections because after all, nobody's perfect. We
say "sorry" and determine to do better. We even have
friendly adjectives we put before the word mistake like honest, silly,
or childish that lessen the responsibility even more.

But this word-swap is
dangerous..
Jesus did not die on the cross for mistakes. Mistakes don't originate
in the depravity of the heart; sin does. We cannot repent of a mistake
because by its very definition it was unintentional. A mistake can be made by a good person with the best intentions. And deep down, that's what we mean when we admit we've "made mistakes." The word mistakes saves our pride, but pride is what got us into trouble with God in the first place. To save it is to continue to resist the Holy Spirit.
.Without
owning sin, there can be no repentance. Without repentance there can be no forgiveness. In fact, the cross is a gross
overstatement if our mere mistakes are the problem. Isn't there something brutal
and unlikeable about a God who can't overlook a few mistakes?.
The word sin has a bold finality to it, like the ring of a judge's
gavel. We recoil from it. We rush to excuse, explain, and soften the
truth. And therein lies the serpent's weapon. Until we see our sin the
way God does and turn from it with a vengeance, we cannot appreciate the
cross. We can't truly love or worship a Savior until we recognize how
desperately we need saving. We cannot come into agreement with God until we first agree with Him about our depravity. Jesus did not come to save "good people." He came to rescue sinners. How repulsive it must be to God to hear us primly admit our "mistakes" to Him rather than confess our sins.
.When we try to approach God on our terms, admitting a few mistakes, but not repenting of sin, we become that "rich young ruler" who went away from Jesus very sad. Could that be a reason so many professing Christians have never found Jesus either?.

A single, narrow doorway draws excessive attention from the enemy of our souls.
He throws his vile body in front of it and spares no expense to keep us
away from it. Whatever it takes. Whatever lie works. Doesn't matter as
long as he keeps us away from this doorway that threatens his domain.
When he succeeds, he gains a devastating weapon that he uses to beat us into submission. This weapon can make the most successful
woman a slave to insecurity and render the strongest man a weakling. It's called Shame..
Satan's only access to this weapon is our permission. The shame is
ours, all right. We've earned it and we know it. All the pep talk in the
world, all the hype and self-esteem boosters cannot break the deep conviction that we
deserve these beatings. There is only one way to escape them and it is through that
doorway. And Satan knows it..The door is called Repentance. We don't hear this word much anymore-- another of Satan's ideas. Instead we hear his screams: "Don't walk
through that door! God understands. You're a good person. It was a long time
ago. It was no big deal. You're over it." We pause at the door, listen to his lies, and move on. What we don't hear is his
cackling behind our backs as he picks up the weapon we just handed him.
Shame. From now on he can torture us at will, squelch any attempts of ours to embrace love, joy, and peace. Shame convinces us that we will forever remain on God's B List.
But when we kick him aside and charge through that doorway, we find a different welcome than the one Satan told us we'd find. In desperation, we drag sin's filthy carcass to the foot of the
cross and we look up. We see
our shame piled high on His bloodied shoulders. We listen to the Voice coming from between
clenched teeth. "It...is...finished ." And we believe Him. It's paid for. All of
it. Repentance means we stop making excuses, stop blaming, and fully own the
gravity of our sin... Yes, that sin too. The dark one. The one Satan reminds us of anytime we
start to think we have value and purpose. .
Because 'it is finished' and because we walked through that doorway, we
can stand tall, forgiven, and whole. And we choose to live on this side of
the doorway because we know what waits on the other side. He has nothing we
want. He can keep that shame and choke on it. It belongs with him. Shame has no power on this side of the door..